Here comes another one of my questions....![]()
I'm placing it in the mathematics section because I want you all to address this from the standpoint of "in theory" and not "in practice". I'll explain more on that later.
So here is the problem;
Let's say you have as many decks of cards as you'll ever need. What you do is place one card on top of another so that the top card is just at the tipping (balance) point. Then you place those two cards on a third so that the top two are at the tipping point. Then place those three on a fourth... etc. Do this such that all the top cards are on the verge of tipping.
I'll attempt to "draw" a picture of this (I have a feeling it won't look very good so bare with me...):
The question is;__________xxxxxxxxxx
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Is it possible to stack the cards this way so that the top card is as far as you like to the right of the bottom card or is there a limit?
As far as the "in theory" vs. "in practice" - don't worry about things such as the curvature of Earth, inability to lift an infinite stack of cards, yada yada. Feel free to imagine a flat-infinite Earth etc. Nothing tricky here except possibly the math.
For the experimentalists in the forum and those that are not comfortable with the math, feel free to play with a deck of cards and rely on your intuition. For the mathematically-savvy, see if you can mathematically justify your answer.
Cheers,
william